


Just Like That

by spaztronaut



Category: The Host - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-26 04:20:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15655653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaztronaut/pseuds/spaztronaut
Summary: How did Ian and Kyle escape from the aliens? What happened to their parents? How did they find the caves? This is their story.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Moving this fic over from FF.net. I can't tell you how much I love the O'Shea brothers and this is probably my favorite of my Host fics. I hope you enjoy it!

I missed my family. I missed a lot of other things as well, but I could live without them. The luxuries like electricity, phones, computers, cars...  _beds_. I could live without necessities like medicine and food. But I couldn't live without my family. I didn't know how.

One day I'm an immature college student living at home with my parents and the next day the whole world falls apart. How does something like that happen?

It was surreal. The end of the world was like a scene out of an old science fiction movie. People just began acting differently. No one died or disappeared, there weren't any explosions. People just became… nicer. That's how you could tell. We discovered later that their eyes would glow silver and reflect if you shined a light into them, but by then it was too late. We never saw it coming.

We're lucky we were able to escape, I know that. I would never want to be one of those damned parasites. But how do I continue my life without the people I loved? I don't know how. I didn't know how to survive on my own  _before_  the aliens showed up. How the hell was I supposed to survive  _now_? Now that we have to sleep outside in the woods like animals. Now that we have to steal in order to feed ourselves. Now that we're being hunted by the same aliens that have taken over my parents bodies. How am I supposed to handle something like this without going insane, let alone survive it?

I missed my parents. They were always there and now they're dead.  _Gone_ , just like that. I have to stay strong, for my brother. He lost his parents too, and more. He lost his girlfriend. The love of his life, as he says. I didn't have anyone like that. But at least he had her memories. I never had that and now I never would. Everyone was dead. The  _whole world_... gone. Just like that.


	2. Chapter 2

"Mom!" I yelled, loud enough that she would hear me. If she was in the house, anyway.

"Yes, Ian?" she called back from the kitchen. She was carrying in groceries through the back door.

_Good_ , I thought,  _she's already in there which means she won't mind getting me a snack._

"Do we have anything to eat?" I asked.

"What would you like?"

"I don't know. What do we have?"

"Ian, why don't you just come in here and look for yourself?"

_What a stupid question_ , I thought as I turned around giving her my saddest puppy dog eyes. She could never resist my puppy dog eyes. I was in the living room, stretched out across the tan leather sofa that was strategically placed in front of the plasma screen TV. It was Sunday afternoon and the game was on.

Mom knew better than to think I would willingly get off that couch today. She rolled her eyes at me from where she was standing in the kitchen. My dad had knocked down the wall a few years ago to open the two rooms up into each other.

"Thanks!" I shouted, turning back to the television.

A few minutes later she came into the living room handing me a sandwich. "You know, your Dad's going to be working on the guest room today," she said. She was always trying to get my Dad to fix the house up. And she would always force me and Kyle to help out. She thought it should be a "family thing".

"You mean the spare  _closet_ , don't you?" I questioned, laughing. Our house had a spare room, but it so small that Mom never knew what to do with it. When Kyle and I were little it was our playroom. Then it was Dad's  _den_ , but he never used it so Mom converted it into her  _office_. But then she never used it. She said she felt claustrophobic in there, so now she wants to turn it into a spare bedroom. Because anyone would want to sleep in that room. I don't even think it would fit a bed.

"Ian, please? He would love your help," she begged.

"Well, why doesn't Kyle have to help?" I whined. I didn't think it was fair that he gets to hang out with Jodi while I have to work in some stupid prison cell while I could be watching the game.

"Kyle is going to help. He just went to pick up Jodi. She's having dinner with us tonight," she smiled, knowing I wouldn't be able to win this argument.

"Fine.  _Fine_ , whatever." I complained, shutting the TV off while I got up and went to find my Dad. He was in the " _spare room_ ", measuring.

"Your Mom told you to come help me?" he guessed and I nodded. "What's the score?"

"7-3 Boston." I wished I was somewhere,  _anywhere_  else.

"I don't know what your mother's planning on putting in here. Room's too small to fit a bed and a dresser. It'll barely fit a night table," he said shaking his head.

I laughed. We all knew how Mom was. Once she got something in her head she wouldn't stop until it was done. She didn't care if it was impossible, she would nag my Dad so much that he would make it possible. But that was the great thing about her. She never gave up. Ever. And if it was something she wanted, Dad wouldn't give up either. He would do anything for her. I suspected that if this renovation didn't turn out as planned, we might just be putting an addition on our house. And then I'd end up helping with that, too!

"Hey, where is everybody?" Kyle yelled from the living room.

"In here!" Dad and I yelled at the same time.

"Hi, Mr. O'Shea. Hey, Ian," Jodi smiled as she walked into room, Kyle following close behind her. Kyle was so big and Jodi was so tiny, they looked mismatched standing next to each other. But they reminded me a lot of my parents. Kyle would do anything for Jodi, but unlike my Mom, Jodi never really asked for much. But Mom said that would change once they got married.

It was weird thinking of my brother getting married. He hadn't proposed, but that didn't stop my Mom from talking about their wedding like it was happening next week. She loved Jodi like a daughter and since she only had me and Kyle, I guess Jodi was the closest she would ever get to the real thing.

Jodi was a sweet girl. I liked her a lot. She was like a sister to me in many ways. She would always yell at Kyle when he picked on me too much. She was 21, same age as Kyle. They had been dating since they were 19 and since I'm 19, Mom was always asking me when I was going to find my "Jodi". It bugged me sometimes. I wasn't Kyle and I didn't even have a girlfriend. I had  _girlfriends_ , but not  _the_  girlfriend. I could never seem to stay with any of them very long. I didn't feel that connection with any of them. But I wanted to. I was a little jealous of what Kyle and Jodi had together. I wanted to find the one.

"Hey, Jodi. You going to help out?" Dad asked.

She smiled. "I don't think we'd all fit in here at the same time." Kyle laughed and put his arm around her waist, pulling her into his chest. She laughed and leaned back into him.

I rolled my eyes, " Can we just get this over with, please?" I really didn't want to be doing this. And I really didn't need to watch Kyle  _flirting_. That was too much for any man to take.

Dad, Kyle, and I worked until dinner. Even though the room was small, there was still a lot to be done before it was finished.

Jodi had spent the day helping Mom in the kitchen. She wanted to learn all of my Mom's recipes. Kyle loved Mom's cooking so Jodi decided she should learn. They had made chicken marseilles. It was Kyle's favorite. Mine, too.

We spent the rest of the night hanging out as a family, the way we normally did. I couldn't imagine life any other way. But it was about to change... drastically.


	3. Chapter 3

Dad and I pulled into the driveway at the same time. I had an old Toyota pickup. I bought it a year ago with money I had saved working at the local grocery store. My Dad had a brand new, fire engine red Mustang. Mom said he was going through a midlife crisis, but he claimed he just really liked the car. I had to agree with him, the car was sweet.

I pulled my truck up behind him and got out to help Dad with his bags. He had gone to the hardware store to pick up some tools and materials we would need to finish up the spare bedroom.

"How was school?" he asked as I grabbed some of the bags.

"Same as always," I mumbled. School and I didn't really get along. Especially since I had morning classes. I was  _not_  a morning person. "I had my computer literacy class today. Why would they even have a class like that? Who doesn't know how to use a computer?"

"At least your not the one paying for it," Dad said, raising his eyebrows.

I smiled and carried the bags into the house. Dad dropped the bag he was carrying by the front door and headed toward the kitchen, looking for lunch. I followed him, hoping my Mom had made something good.

Mom owned a restaurant on Main Street called Caroline's. She was a chef. Caroline's was the best restaurant in town.

"Hey, guys," Mom said, flipping the grilled chicken she was making onto a plate.

"Caroline, how did I get so lucky? Beautiful and a great cook," joked my Dad, throwing his arms around her waist. She giggled and kissed him on the cheek.

I rolled my eyes as Mom turned around to place the plate of chicken on the counter. "What are you making?" I asked.

"Chicken wraps," she said to me before turning back to Dad. "How was Fred down at the hardware store? Nancy came into the restaurant this morning. She seemed to be acting... a little... strange."

"Yeah, Fred was a little off today, too. You think I should call and see what's up?" Dad asked. My Dad was friends with Fred Calhoun since before I was born. And his wife, Nancy had become pretty friendly with my Mom over the years. Kyle actually dated their daughter, Marissa, for awhile back in high school. If something was going on with them, my parents would want to help out.

"Yes, I think you should. I'll just end up worrying about it until I know what's wrong. Nancy seemed so...  _unlike herself_. The last time I talked to her she was a wreck about her mother and today it was like nothing was wrong."

Nancy Calhoun's mother had just recently passed away. She had end stage lung cancer and Nancy had taken it pretty hard. Mom made us go to the funeral. It was terrible, Nancy had to be removed from the wake. It was sad. She was such a mess, I couldn't imagine her getting over it so quickly.

"Well, maybe she's just dealing with her grief in her own way," Dad said, trying to reassure Mom.

"No, Daniel, I don't think that was it. You should have seen her. She was almost...  _chipper_. It wasn't normal. I tried talking to her about it but she said she had to run. Please, call Fred and find out."

"Alright, honey. But don't get too worked up over this. Everyone has their own way..."

"No, Daniel! Something's wrong."

"Okay. I'll go call him right now," Dad finally said. He was worried about Mom more than the Calhoun's.

"Thank you," Mom replied, placing a chicken wrap on a plate in front of me.

"Thanks Mom," I told her.

I finished my lunch and went upstairs to my room. I had a report to get done for class tomorrow, but instead I turned on my Xbox and started playing a football game. I was almost to halftime when Kyle came bursting in.

"What's up, Bro?" he said, grabbing a controller and taking a seat next to me.

"Not much. Wanna play?"

"Jodi went out of town today to visit her grandparents, so I've got nothing better to do then kick your butt!" he laughed.

"Oh, your on!"

Kyle won, 10-zip. And he rubbed it in my face as only a big brother could.

The next day, in my English Literature class, I noticed some of the people were acting weird. My teacher, Mr. Reynolds, is usually a pretty grumpy guy. He's one of those teachers who just seems fed up with his job. But today he was different. Today he was smiling and telling really cheesy jokes. A student's cell phone went off in class and instead of freaking out and taking the phone like he normally would have, he just smiled and asked if everything was alright.

And then there was this girl, Rachel. I sort of liked her a little. We used to flirt sometimes and I was thinking about asking her out. She seemed like a real nice girl. I thought she was funny, she was always teasing me about one thing or another. But not today. Today she smiled and complimented the shirt I was wearing. Not one joke. It was very unlike her.

A lot of the students were acting strange. They were being too nice.  _Maybe it's a like a thing. Be nice to everyone day or something_ , I thought.

It reminded me of what Mom was saying yesterday about Nancy Calhoun. She said she wasn't acting like herself. I felt like the strange behavior was connected, I just didn't know how. Or why for that matter. Why would people, who have nothing in common, be displaying the same weird behavior?

For lunch, I went by the sandwich shop where my friend, Bill, worked. I liked to go there to get lunch sometimes. The food was good, but the place's biggest draw was that Bill never charged me. It was technically like stealing, I suppose, but his boss never said anything to him about it. Today though, Bill charged me for my sandwich. I got a turkey on wheat. It was only 6 dollars and I didn't mind paying. I figured maybe he had finally gotten in trouble.

"Dave finally get fed up with you giving away free sandwiches?" I asked.

"No, I just decided it was wrong. I'm sorry, Ian, but I won't be able to do that anymore," he explained. Then he smiled a weird smile I had never seen on him before. Bill was a good guy, but he was always the one who wanted to go do crazy things and get into trouble. He never cared that he was breaking the rules before, why start now? I know from personal experience that he's done way worse than giving away a sandwich.

"What is wrong with everyone today? Is this a joke? You noticed everyone being weird too and now your pulling a practical joke one me, is that it?"

"Ian, I'm not playing a joke on you. It is wrong to break the rules."

I shook my head. "Whatever."

"Okay, then, have a great day, Ian." He was smiling from ear to ear. It was the creepy smile again, the one I had never seen before. That was it. I couldn't take it anymore. He was pissing me off.

"Dude, what is wrong with you? Why are you being so nice? It's creepy and completely unlike you," I yelled.

I must have been louder than I meant to be, because the owner, Dave, came out of the back room.

"Hello, may I help you, Ian?" he asked. I was here enough that he knew me. Dave was a cool guy, in his thirties. But he didn't like it when Bill and I were too loud. He said it disturbed the other costumers. But, again, today was different. He didn't tell me to keep it down, even though their were a few people in line behind me.

Maybe I was going crazy, I don't know, but I had a gut feeling that something was wrong.

"Why don't you come over my house later, Ian? It'll be fun," Bill said, still smiling.

I really wanted to get out of here. They were creeping me out.

"No, I... uh... have to study," I said, grabbing my lunch off the counter and walking out the door.

"Okay, see you later, then," I heard Bill call out from behind me.

I thought about what could be going on the whole ride home. I was so sure  _something_  was going on. Something bad. Once I pulled into my driveway though, I lost all confidence in every theory I had come up with.

"Maybe I am going crazy," I muttered to myself.

"Well, your talking to yourself, so I'd say that it's a possibility ," Kyle laughed from the garage.

I looked up to see him lift his head up from behind his old Jeep. He was laughing at me.

"What did it break down again?" I asked him and he nodded. "You really got a get a new car, Bro."

"Yeah, but I bet you this hunk a junk could still beat your car in a race. "

I gave him a weak smile and he noticed. I normally would have had a comeback for him, but today I had other things on my mind.

"Something wrong, Ian?" Kyle asked, his eyebrows raised.

"No, just going crazy, like I said."

"What is it? Really?" He was concerned.

"It's nothing. Just my imagination. Don't worry about it?"

"Ian?" he pressed.

I gave in. I wanted to see if he had noticed anything too. "Have you noticed that people have been acting sort of... strange today?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean a lot of people I know have been acting sort of weird today. They've been  _too nice_. My teacher, Rachel... Bill! Bill was actually being  _nice_. It was... bizarre."

"Yeah, that would be bizarre. No one is ever nice to  _you_!" he chuckled.

I frowned. "I'm being serious, Kyle. Something's not right. I can feel it."

He stared at me for a few seconds, his brows furrowed over his eyes, like he was trying to figure out what I was thinking. "This is really bothering you, isn't it?"

"Yes. I know it sounds crazy, but something is going on, and I don't know what it is."

"Alright. I believe you. I don't know what about, but I believe you," he said coming to stand next to me. He put his hand on my shoulder, reassuringly.

Kyle might be pig headed and arrogant, but I could always count on him to have my back. I smiled at him. "Thanks. I don't know what it is, though. And I don't know how to find out."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure everything's fine. And if it's not, it will be."

"Kyle, it's weird. It's like people aren't themselves anymore. They look like themselves and sound like themselves, but they don't act like themselves. Mom was saying the other day that Nancy Calhoun was acting strange too. I really think that there is something happening to these people."

"Well, then, you can just ask Mom when she gets home. Her and Dad went over to the Calhoun's for lunch."

" _What?_ " I didn't like that. If there really was something going on and the Calhoun's had been exposed or something...

I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed my Mom's number. It rang a few times and then went to voicemail. Mom  _never_  didn't answer the phone for me.

I quickly dialed my Dad's number, but he didn't answer, either. I was really beginning to get worried. Kyle must have noticed my expression because I felt his hand on my shoulder again.

"Ian, calm down. Everything's fine."

"No, Kyle, everything is  _not_  fine, I just know it." I ran inside to find the Calhoun's number. I needed to talk to my parents.

I found the number and dialed it, but again, no answer. I left a message on their machine and sat down waiting for someone to call me back. Kyle was sitting on the recliner next to the couch in the living room. He had the same worried expression on his face that I had on mine. Only he was worrying about me, while I was worrying about our parents.

About a half hour later, I heard my Dad's mustang pull in the driveway. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw them come through the door. Kyle had fallen asleep, but now he got up to see what was going on.

"Why didn't either of you answer your phones?" I demanded.

"I'm sorry, Ian. We didn't know you called," Mom explained, walking into the kitchen. It was dark in the house. Kyle had been asleep and I was too lost in thought to realize that it had gotten dark outside. My Mom flipped the light switch and then squeezed her eyes shut when they came on. It was bright, but she kept her eyes closed longer than she should have. I could see her looking at her reflection in the microwave door. She squinted at her reflection before turning back to me.

"Well, what was going on with Mrs. Calhoun?" I asked.

"Nothing. She is very well," she answered.

What? Mom was so adamant that there was something wrong yesterday. I needed to know more. "So she just got over her mother's death? Just like that?"

"No, she is sad, Ian. But she is happy to be here with her husband and daughter."

"But..." I began.

"Don't worry about Ian. I think I might have hit him in his head one too many times," Kyle joked.

"Oh, no! You boys didn't...  _fight_ , did you?" she was trembling, afraid Kyle had hurt me. This wasn't like my mother. She didn't like it when Kyle and I fought, but she was never  _afraid_. If she wanted to break up a fight she would just smack us in the back of the head.

I looked over to Kyle, who was staring at Mom with a puzzled look on his face. Like he didn't know what to make of her. She looked back and forth between us both, still shaking.

I heard Dad's phone ring and turned to see him walking into the other room to take the call. I looked at Kyle and he nodded, already knowing what I wanted him to do. He turned and followed Dad from the room.

Mom looked like she was going to object to his leaving, but I distracted her. "So what are we having for dinner?" I asked, smiling.

She smiled back. "Chicken marseilles, it's your favorite."

"Cool," I said, as I helped her get the ingredients ready.

A few minutes later, Kyle came running in. He looked horrible, like he just found out his best friend died. I felt my stomach drop.

"Ian, we gotta go," he said, trying desperately to keep his voice steady. It wasn't working.

I felt like I was about to cry. He had found something out. Something  _bad_. He said 'Ian, we have to go'. Not Mom or Dad... just Ian.

I started walking towards him, but Mom grabbed my arm.

"Ian, don't you want to stay for dinner?" she asked.

I stared at her and tears started rolling down my cheeks. My mother wouldn't have asked me that. She would have said, 'What the hell is going on with you two?'. That wasn't my mother. My mother would've been concerned with how strange we were acting.

Kyle grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the kitchen. I saw Dad walk into the living room just as Kyle pushed me out the front door.

"Do you have your keys?" he yelled, voice booming.

I couldn't speak. The tears were flowing now, and there was nothing I could do to stop them. I nodded and pulled the keys from my pocket. He grabbed them from me and pushed me around the truck towards the passenger side.

"Wait," my Mom called, "Aren't you hungry? I'm making your favorite!"

I looked back at her. Looked back at the woman who was my entire world. I could see her, but she wasn't there. Something had happened to her, I just didn't know what it was.

"Ian! Get in the car!" Kyle screamed at me.

I opened the door and got in the truck. We pulled out of the driveway and I could hear my parents calling to us. Asking us to stay. Kyle sped down the street without so much as glancing back at them.

We drove for an hour or so in silence before I made Kyle pull over. My tears had stopped but I could feel the churning in my stomach and knew I was going go be sick. I jumped out of the car and landed on my hands and knees. It wasn't long before I felt the contents of my stomach ripping up through my throat. Kyle got out and stood beside me as I wretched. And when I was done, he pulled me into a tight hug and I began to cry again.


	4. Chapter 4

When I was finally able to get control of myself I pulled back from Kyle. He seemed to be having a hard time controlling his emotions also. I could see his eyes were moist, even in the dim moonlight.

"What happened?" I whispered, not trusting my voice to stay steady.

Kyle shook his head.

"What happened, Kyle?" My voice grew in volume, my anger taking over. He obviously knew something and I thought I deserved to know as well. They were my parents too.

"On the phone..." Kyle began, but his voice cracked and he took a deep breath. "Dad... was talking to someone on the phone. I don't know who it was. He called him 'Seeker'. He said..." Another deep breath. He was shaking. "He said, 'Our host bodies children are here. They're suspicious. I think you should come and get them now. If they get violent I'm afraid Rains Above and I won't be able to handle it.' What does that mean, Ian? Host bodies? Who the hell is Rains Above?"

Tears were threatening to break through now. He took a few deep breaths and then looked at me. He was waiting for an answer.

I didn't know. What did it mean? Host bodies. That didn't make any sense. Or did it? Host bodies. They're bodies were the same.

"The people who were acting weird," I said. Kyle was still looking at me. "They were acting different. Not like themselves. Like they were someone else. But they looked the same. They're bodies were the same. They're the same as they were before. Maybe they were infected or... changed. Taken over."

"Taken over," he repeated, his voice low, only a whisper. "Ian, this is crazy." He shook his head.

"Why? Why is it crazy? Kyle, you saw them when we left. What the hell was that? It wasn't our parents, I know that much."

"So, what then? Aliens came and took over our parents bodies?" he was yelling now. Kyle was always a bit of a hot head, and this situation was getting the better of his self control.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. I don't know if it was aliens, but that's as good of a guess as any. Something's changing people, taking over their bodies. Maybe Rains Above... maybe whoever that is is in Mom's body," I tried to keep my voice low but it was getting louder with every word I said. I didn't want it to be true, but I knew that it was. I was angry that someone had taken my parents from me. Horrified. And Kyle's incredulous stare wasn't helping matters any. It made me feel even crazier.

Suddenly Kyle looked horrified, too. Did he believe me?

He pulled a little silver phone out of his pocket and dialed. "Please answer your phone. Answer the phone." He hung up and dialed again. "Jodi answer the God damned phone," he pleaded.

I had forgotten all about Jodi. She was visiting her grandparents, maybe, whatever this was, it was just a local occurrence.

I placed my hand on his shoulder. "She'll be fine. She's out of town," I tried to comfort him.

He had been holding the phone to his ear, but now had dropped his arm to his side. He stared out into space. "She said her grandparents sounded weird on the phone when they asked her to visit."

I stared at him, he was slumped down against the side of the truck. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. I couldn't think of anything to say to him.

We sat there, next to the truck, for maybe ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Kyle had continued to call Jodi, but she didn't answer. Finally, Kyle stood up and got in the truck. I followed him. I figured we were going to go find Jodi. But instead of getting on the highway and heading towards Jodi's grandparents house, we just kept going. We stayed on back roads, never stopping unless we needed gas or food. And even then, we were very cautious. We tried to avoid anyone who was excessively nice.

It was just me and Kyle. We weren't even sure we were right about the whole body snatchers theory. But there was no way to prove it.

About a week later, however, we found out we were right. About everything.


	5. Chapter 5

"Kyle," I said, glancing over to see if he was awake yet.

I was driving and we were almost out of gas. We had been on the road for a week now and we were almost out of money. We had stopped at an ATM and took out everything we had, but even when we put it together it wasn't much. A few hundred dollars. Kyle had just spent all of his money on a new transmission for his jeep and I wasn't very good at saving. I had quit my job at the grocery store, because it conflicted with my schedule for school, and I hadn't found a new one yet. Now, I sort of wish I had. What were we going to do when we ran out of money? How would we eat? Would we continue on foot when we ran out of gas money?

"Kyle!" I yelled, shaking his shoulder.

"What?" He groaned, slowly lifting his head and wiping his eyes.

"We have to stop for gas."

"And?"

" _And_  how much money do we have left? Do we have enough?" I was beginning to get irritated with him. Being trapped in the cab of a pickup truck with your older brother would annoy anyone.

"We have, like, a hundred dollars left." He said and then took a deep breath. He didn't have a plan for when the money ran out, either.

"Alright, I'll stop at the next place I see," I said. We sat in silence until we got to the gas station. Neither of us wanted to discuss things, there was too much. The aliens (or whatever they were), our parents, Jodi, everyone we knew, ourselves... We were scared. We were afraid to talk to people. We knew that something was going on, we just didn't know what it was. We had our body snatchers theory, but we couldn't prove it.

Somehow we managed to get to Utah in the past week, taking the back roads and never actually looking at a map. We didn't know where we were going and I didn't care. There was nowhere  _to_  go, no home anymore.

I pulled up into the station and got out of the car to pump the gas. Kyle went in to pay and get us something to eat. The tank was almost empty and after today, there wouldn't be enough money left to fill it up again. So we decided to buy as much food as we could and try to make it last.

I was just finishing up when Kyle came running out of the store. I stared at him as he jumped into the truck and opened my door for me.

"Get in!" he yelled.

I blinked in surprise, but did as he said. I pulled out, glancing back over my shoulder. There was no one chasing us, but still...

"Holy crap!" Kyle yelled, "That guy's eyes!"

"What happened? What are you talking about?"

"His eyes... they... were  _glowing_." His voice was small. Weak. Whatever he saw had scared him.

"What do you mean  _glowing_?"

"They just glowed, Ian. I've never seen anything like that. I walked in and got some stuff for us to eat and then..." He trailed off.

"What, Kyle?"

He took a deep breath and it looked like he was trying to remember what happened. Trying to make sure he wasn't crazy. "I put my stuff on the counter and the guy started ringing it up. But when I pulled out my wallet to pay, he gave me a strange look. He looked... afraid. I was confused. I stared at him for a second and that's when I noticed. His eyes were weird. A second guy came over and asked what was wrong. When I looked at him, his eyes were the same. They were glowing silver." And then his words came out in a rush. "Ian, there's no way both of those guys had some freaky, glowy contacts in. There's no way. Ian, I think that's how you tell. Their eyes. People with those eyes have been changed."

I was silent for a minute. I tried to think back to the night we ran from our parents. Were their eyes glowing? I couldn't remember.

"So, you think we're right, then? About the bodies being taken over by something?" I asked.

"This is crazy, Ian. Nothing makes sense, but I think something is changing people. I think we're at least right about that."

"What are we going to do?" I asked. That was the only question. What were we going to do?

"I don't know. We..." Kyle began to say, but the sirens cut him off. His face turned ghost white as he turned around to look out the back window.

I glanced in the rearview mirror. A black and white police cruiser was following close behind us. It's sirens were on, along with the red and blue swirling lights.

"What the hell do I do? Pull over? Keep going? What?" I panicked. I had never been pulled over before. I think I would have been freaked out even before we discovered something was changing people.

"I don't know," Kyle admitted, "Stop, I guess. But if his eyes look weird, slam on the gas. Don't hesitate, do you hear me, Ian?"

"Fine." I pulled over and rolled down my window. It took a minute for the cop to walk over to us. He was middle aged with thinning brown hair and his face was full of wrinkles. He looked... nice, which wasn't a good thing to us anymore. As he made his way closer, I noticed how his hand was already positioned over his holster. It made me nervous, it made me want to drive away, quickly. But it was too late, he was already at the window.

"Hello," the officer said.

"Hello. I'm sorry, was I speeding?" I asked, trying to be friendly, even though I was scared to death on the inside. What if he was one them? What if he wasn't? How would we explain? He would think we were crazy.

"Yes. I'm afraid you were speeding. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to bring you back to the station."

"What? Why? Why can't you just give us a ticket?" Kyle asked, from the passenger's seat.

"I'm afraid there has been a report of a vehicle matching this description robbing a gas station a few miles back," the officer said.

"Oh," I gasped and turned to look at Kyle.

Before Kyle could say anything, the officer said, "Please, if you could just come with me."

I looked at Kyle again. I didn't like this. The officer still had his hand positioned above his holster. If he thought we had robbed a gas station, wouldn't he have already pulled the gun on us?

I turned back to the man, who shifted his weight from one foot to the other. The change in position allowed a ray of sunlight, that was filtering through the trees, to fall directly into his eyes.

Kyle and I both gasped at the same time. His eyes were glowing. Glowing silver. But not just glowing. They were reflecting. The light reflected off of his eyes and I turned towards Kyle to see the silver reflections dancing on his face.

"Go!" he shouted, as I slammed my foot down on the gas peddle. I could barely hear the shouts of the police officer over the screeching of the tires.

"Holy crap, Kyle! Did you see that? His eyes..." I trailed off. There really weren't words for what I had just seen.

"Just keep going. Don't stop for anything. Ever. We drive until were out of gas." That was his plan. We were both afraid to think about what we would do once that happened, though, so we didn't talk about it.

 

The gas ran out the next morning. We had driven all night, somehow crossing the border into Colorado. We ditched the truck in the woods, hoping we would be long gone by the time they found it. We had no food, no water... and now we had no transportation. How could life change so rapidly in the course of week? Maybe I was dreaming, maybe this was just a terrible nightmare. Maybe I would wake up, warm and comfortable in my own bed... in my  _home_. But it wasn't a dream, it was real. My life was never going to be the same again. I had to accept that.

We decided against heading to town. If they had infiltrated the police forces, we weren't safe anywhere.  
Sticking to the woods, we circled on the outskirts of the different towns we passed through. Scouring for food and water proved to be more difficult then we thought.

One night, after not eating for four days, I couldn't take it anymore. I actually ate out of someone's  _trash can_. I couldn't help it, I was starving to death, literally. After that day, Kyle and I decided no more scrounging. We would steal enough to survive. It was steal or die. And I really didn't want to die.

After a couple of months, we knew everyone was gone. Changed. We had witnessed people being taken. The aliens would come for them, knock them out and then take them away. Probably to change them, too.

We knew they were aliens for sure now. If the glowing eyes hadn't proved it, the space shuttles sure did. The aliens got rid of our planes, I guess the shuttles were faster.

I don't think I would mind breaking into  _stores_  to steal food, but Kyle insisted it was too dangerous. He said they probably still used security cameras. We couldn't take the chance of being spotted. He was right, of course, it  _was_  too dangerous. But I hated breaking into people's  _houses_. It felt wrong, even though they weren't really people anymore. But as time went on and the hunger became unbearable, stealing from the alien's homes became easier and easier.

We were camping in the woods outside of a small town in New Mexico, when we decided to head to Arizona. Little did we know, that that decision would change our lives forever.

The aliens trapped us in a house we had been raiding. There were only two of them, but they had weapons. The Seekers, as they were called, came into the house and tried to talk to us. They tried to convince us everything was alright, that they were here to help. Not knowing what else to do, Kyle charged them, knocking them both to the ground.

I was shocked he had done something so...  _stupid._ He could've gotten himself killed, but my brother was never much for thinking things through first. I quickly joined Kyle in kicking the crap out of the Seekers. They got in a few good hits, especially when one of them clocked Kyle, splitting his lip in two.

We left them, unconscious on the kitchen floor, and headed out the back, towards the woods.

"Damn. Wait," Kyle whispered to me, as we made our way through the thick tree line behind the house.

"What? You hear something?" I was concerned they may have called for reinforcements.

"No. Their guns. I should have grabbed their guns," he shook his head. It looked like he couldn't believe he had been so stupid. "Wait right here. I'll be right back." And with that he turned back towards the house with the two unconscious Seekers.

Now it was my turn to shake my head like I couldn't believe he was that stupid. "You're going back in there? Kyle, what if they called for backup?"

"Relax, I'll only be minute." The words weren't even out of his mouth, when the sirens pierced the otherwise quiet night.

"See? Come on, let's go," I said, grabbing for his arm. He shook me off and turned back towards the house.

"Kyle, you can't be serious. We have to go.  _Now_!" Even though my voice never became louder than a whisper, even that was too loud with the Seekers so near.

"Ian, we need the guns." he stated, his voice flat. And he was right. We probably did need the guns. This was the fourth time in two months we'd come this close to being caught. We needed a plan or else we were as good as dead. The Seekers would either catch us or we'd starve. Simple as that.

"Not now, Kyle.  _Please_. Let's just go." The panic written all over my face stopped him long enough for him to consider what I was saying. I could see him thinking it over.

He must have decided I was right, because he pushed me forward through the trees. We ran all night and well into the morning. When we were sure no one was following, we stopped to rest.

"We need a plan, Kyle," I said, trying to catch my breath. The adrenaline rush from last night's excitement had faded and I was completely drained. I needed sleep, but this was a conversation we desperately needed to have.

"Well, what the hell do you suggest, Ian? Because I don't know what we should do. For all we know we're the only two humans left in the entire world. There just isn't anything  _to_  do. We can't save anyone. We can't even save ourselves! Our world is gone!" he shouted.

"Shh. Keep your voice down or the entire human population will be  _extinct_ ," I whispered. "Do you even have a brain? Maybe you  _should_  let the aliens take you. They, at least, seem fairly intelligent. Maybe you'd be better off as one of them."

He glared at me for a few seconds and then the next thing I knew he was on top of me, pinning me to the ground. I punched him in his side hard enough to get him to let up a bit, and I took the opportunity to roll us over. Now I was on top, and I used this new found freedom to punch him square in the jaw. He grunted, but hit me back harder.

We wrestled for maybe ten minutes, before we both gave up. Lying panting on the forest floor next to Kyle, I realized how badly he was hurting. In the months that had past since we ran away from home, neither of us spoke about it much. It was hard, for both of us, but harder for Kyle, because of Jodi.

I twisted my head to the side to face him. His eyes flickered to mine, but he immediately went back to looking at the thick canopy of leaves above our heads.

"I don't want... to talk about it," he said, still breathing heavily.

"I know." I knew him well enough to know that. "But you probably should," I added.

He lay there for another minute before getting up. "Let's go. I want to get out of this state. I don't like it here. I think we should move," he joked.

"Where to?" I asked. He wasn't going to spill his guts to me today, no matter how much I pushed him.

"I don't know. Arizona, maybe. We could go to Mexico. See what's going on down there."

"I say Arizona. Always wanted to see the Grand Canyon," I grinned.

He shook his head and punched me in the arm. Joking. "Alright. Grand Canyon it is, then," he laughed.


	6. Chapter 6

Going to Arizona turned out to be a good decision. It was surprisingly easy to get lost in the desert. The only drawback was it was hot, very hot.

Kyle and I did visit the Grand Canyon. We had to go at night, because the aliens still visited, so we couldn't really see it very well. But it was still incredible, even though it would have been better in the day.

Years passed, I don't know how many. One, maybe two. It felt like forever, but that was probably because of the heat. In the desert a single day felt like a week. We stayed in Arizona, for the most part, I think we may have crossed into Nevada a few times, but I'm not sure. We stuck to the desert, staying near any towns or stray houses. It felt safe there, like we were invisible

Food became less of a priority. Water was the only real necessity now. There was one house, it had a well, so it was easy to get as much water as we wanted. We never broke in and raided that house. If we did we would have had to move on. Instead, we made camp in the desert behind the house.

Because of the close proximity, I had the chance to watch the aliens that lived there, a man and his wife. The man was about thirty years old with neatly cropped brown hair. His wife was a little younger than he was, with long dark brown curls. It was funny how the aliens kept our ways. The families stuck together; husbands and wives, children. They didn't just go off on their own. There weren't any humans left to put on a show for, so why did they do it?

I watched that family for I don't know how long. But over the course of time the woman got pregnant. I watched them celebrating. I didn't really think about what would happen to the baby. All I could think was that they were happy, and I was stuck out in the desert with my brother. That alien bastard was in house that didn't belong to him, in a body that didn't belong to him, with a wife and a kid on the way that didn't belong to him. And I was living in the desert behind his house with my  _brother_. It wasn't fair. What did I ever do to deserve this?

I didn't understand why, if there was a god, he would let this happen. What did humans do that was so bad that we deserved to have our world taken away from us? Why did we deserve to live outside in the desert like animals, while they enjoyed our homes? I know that there were humans that had done terrible things before the aliens came, but there were people who did good things, as well. Didn't that count? I had never done anything wrong. What kind of god would let them wipe us out?

The more I thought about it, the more it pissed me off. I was angry. Angry at the aliens, angry at God, angry at my parents...

Why had they let themselves be taken? Why didn't they fight? I needed them, didn't they care about that? This was too hard. How was I supposed to have the will to survive in this world? There was nowhere to go, nothing to do. Just eat, drink and keep moving. But eventually we would get caught. And even if we didn't, we would still die. I couldn't see myself as a sixty year old man, living out in the desert. I  _wouldn't_ live a long and happy life. It was just a matter of time.

Sometimes I would contemplate if it was better to just give myself to the aliens. Would I rather be erased from my body, or die a slow and agonizing death from dehydration?

I, honestly, didn't know the answer anymore.

Kyle noticed my mood change. He tried to ask me about it a few times, but that was never really his strong suit. Mostly we just ended up fighting. Why was he allowed to bitch about how badly his life sucked, but I was supposed to suck it up? Eventually, he stopped trying, though.

We had to move on again. It wasn't safe to stay in one place for too long. Roaming the desert sucked. I was tired, I wanted to rest. But no matter how long we stayed in one place, I couldn't shake the feeling of being tired. I didn't want to do this anymore. I was sick of it. I didn't want to become one of those damned things, but I didn't know how much more of this I could take. I was going crazy.

Kyle wasn't as bad as me, I don't think. He hated it, too, I could tell because he never stopped complaining. But I felt different, like, even though there wasn't an alien inside of me, I had still lost myself. Or maybe I never  _knew_  myself. I didn't really think about it much before.

I was Ian O'Shea, college student. I never even picked a major. Why the hell didn't I pick a major? Why didn't I do anything? Why didn't I ever find a girlfriend? A real one, not just some girl I thought was cute at the time, but a real girlfriend, who I loved more than anything? Like Kyle did with Jodi. Why didn't I make the most of my time, my  _life_ , when I still had the chance?

 _Because I didn't expect the world to end so soon_ , I thought.

"It's freaking hot," Kyle said.

"I know. You don't have to keep saying it." He hadn't stopped complaining once today. I'm surprised I had the restraint to keep my self from pummeling him.

"But it's  _hot_! Why do we stay here? Let's leave. Let's go someplace where it's cold. I'd rather deal with frostbite than heatstroke."

"Shut up, Kyle. We can't go someplace cold. We'd freeze to death." I couldn't help but to think of how pathetic that was. We really would freeze to death if it got too cold. The thought made me chuckle, a low, dark sound. "Besides, don't you remember Colorado? You hated it, and it wasn't even that cold."

"Yeah, well, I'd love it now. Why is it so  _hot_? It wasn't this hot yesterday."

"Yesterday, we still had some water left."

"Ugh. I can't take this," he groaned.

"Stop being such a bitch, you've gone longer without water."

"You're a bitch. And it was never this hot before. Crap. Why'd we wander this far out?"

We had gone pretty far out this time. We usually liked to keep closer to towns, but it had recently gotten more dangerous. The Seekers seemed to be more vigilant then normal. We didn't do anything that would draw attention, so we were cautious. Maybe there were other humans in the area.

If there were other humans, I wanted to find them, but at the same time, they did have the Seekers on alert. We decided it was best to stay away, and headed out into the desert. We had never been in this area before. There were less homes than we would have thought.

"Kyle,  _please_. I'm begging you. Shut. Up," I said in a rough voice. I hadn't had any water since yesterday morning and my throat was dry.

"Oh, stop whining, Ian."

I gaped at him. " _I'm whining!_ " I exclaimed, shaking my head in disbelief. " _I'm_  whining? You haven't shut your mouth one time in the last twelve hours, and you think  _I'm_  whining?"

"Yes, Ian.  _You're_ whining. And if you don't shut up, I'll make you shut up," he growled.

I know it was the heat that had us both in a bad mood, but he was an idiot, and I couldn't think logically at the moment.

I ran forward, tackling him to the ground. I was hitting him as hard as I could, taking all of my pent up anger out on my brother. It wasn't like he didn't deserve a beating, though.

He kneed me and I fell off of him. Kyle was on top of me, then, also taking all of  _his_  pent up anger out on  _me_. We fought for awhile. We were still fighting when we heard a metal clicking sound.

Kyle jumped off of me, and I rolled up on my knees to see what had made the sound.

There was a man, in his fifties maybe, standing in front of us. He had messy white hair with a bandanna tied around his forehead and a beard. And in is hands was a rifle... pointed directly at Kyle's chest.

 _Crap. This is it_ , I panicked. I realized I didn't want to die. No matter how much I hated my life, I still wanted the chance to live it.

"You'll have to shoot us. Because if you don't, we'll kill you along with anyone else here," Kyle said through gritted teeth.

I took my eyes off of the Seeker for the first time, to see Kyle standing. He was going to run at the Seeker. He was going to try to fight. The gun was still pointed at his chest. The Seeker would shoot him before Kyle could take one step in his direction.

This was it. It was over. I stood up, my face now mirroring the scowl that was on Kyle's. I would make the Seeker kill me. I wouldn't be turned into one of those things.

"Hang on a sec, would ya? I was just wondering what you boys were doing out here," the Seeker said, his voice calm and collected.

What? He knew what we were doing out here. It was clear we were humans. The aliens never fought. It was another one of their odd traits, like the glowing eyes.

The glowing eyes. I looked at this man's eyes. They were blue. His eyes were  _blue_. Not silver, not glowing, not reflecting. Just plain old blue.

Kyle hadn't noticed, yet. He took a step towards the man, who held the gun more pointedly at Kyle.

"You don't want to do that, son," the man warned.

"Oh, yes, I..."

"No, Kyle," I said, grabbing his arm, "Look. His eyes..."

Kyle gasped when he saw no reflection from the man's eyes. The Seeker wasn't a Seeker at all. He was  _human_.

"You're... You're a human," Kyle stuttered. We hadn't spoken to another human since the day we ran away.

"Yes," the man said, "And so are you, I take it?"

"Yeah... yeah, we're human," I said, my mouth still hanging wide open in shock.

"Name's Jeb. It's nice to meet you..."

"I'm Kyle. This is my brother, Ian," Kyle introduced us.

"Yeah, I could tell you were brothers. You look just alike. Well, anyway, it's nice to meet you, Kyle and Ian," the man, Jeb, smiled.

"It's nice to meet you too, Jeb," I said at the same time Kyle said, "Do you have any water?"

Jeb laughed. "Yes. You boys must be very thirsty." He pulled a canteen from his shoulder and handed it to Kyle, who drank half of it before handing it to me.

"You boys come with me and we'll get you some more water. And some food, I'll bet your hungry, too," Jeb offered.

He was very nice. I almost wondered if this could be a trick. But I'd seen his eyes, he was human. Deciding it was better to trust him, I walked forward, following behind Kyle.


	7. Chapter 7

We walked for some time. I could see it in Kyle's face that he wanted to start complaining again. He only stopped himself because he didn't want to offend Jeb.

"Okay, it's just through here," Jeb said, as we made our way into a dark crevice in the rocks. It didn't look like anything could possibly be in there, but I followed. It was uncomfortable, Kyle and I were tall, and the passage was cramped.

After a minute, the crevice opened up into a cave. It was impressive. We were now in a dark tunnel. The tunnel seemed to go on forever and I wondered where it led.

"Where are we going?" Kyle asked.

"This is my home," Jeb replied. And then I could see a light ahead of us. It was bright, like sunlight. Were we headed back outside?

We walked through another crevice and came out into a big, bright room. I blinked, the sudden change from dark to light hurting my eyes.

"Holy crap," I heard Kyle say.

I opened my eyes, looking around. There were six people in the room. Humans. They were... gardening? When they saw us walk in they immediately stopped what they were doing to come over and see us.

"Who are they?" one woman asked, suspiciously.

"They are Ian and Kyle," Jeb answered her, gesturing towards us. "And their guests here, now, too. So be nice."

The people smiled then and began welcoming us. There were two women and four men. That was more people then I'd talked to in almost three years. Then others began to trickle into the room. How many were there? How big was this place?

The answers: there were twenty-four people now, including us; and the cave was huge. When Jeb had showed us around we were stunned. They grew their own food, had a water supply... They had bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen with an oven and everything. It was amazing, incredible really.

Kyle seemed happy to be here, and I was more than happy. We didn't have wander around anymore, we had a home.

After a few weeks of sheer bliss, I started to notice something. There weren't many women here. And the ones that were here were older.

There was one girl around my age. Her name was Paige, but she was here with her boyfriend, Andy. They had managed to escape together.

Not that I was really disappointed by that. I wasn't attracted to her. She was pretty enough, but not really my type. Even though I wasn't exactly sure what my type was. And now I'd probably never know.

I'll admit, now that I had the peace of mind to actually think about things other than where my next meal was coming from, I was lonely. I had Kyle, and all of the others here in the caves, they were my family now. But I still felt something was missing. I wanted what Kyle and Jodi had had, what Andy and Paige have, and all of the other couples here in the caves.

But I would never have that. I would never get to feel that way. It was impossible. How was I supposed to meet someone here? I mean, if a beautiful, perfect girl did miraculously appear down here, I could definitely win her over. I was always good at that. Girls thought I was cute and funny. But what were the chances that girl even existed anymore? And, honestly, even if she did exist, what would I have to offer her?

Nothing. I couldn't save our planet and the damned parasites didn't look like they intended to leave anytime soon. I couldn't offer her a family, I couldn't bring a child into a world like this. Just thinking about a helpless baby having to grow up in this world, never knowing the comforts of a real home, in constant fear for it's life... I just couldn't do that. I couldn't create a life knowing that it's entire existence would be one of terror and pain. I knew what it was like out there, how I could subject a child to that?

I decided it didn't matter. I wasn't going to let thoughts like that bring me down. I needed to focus on the good instead of the bad, since there was now some good to focus on. I had let being on the run change me, and now I was going to get myself back.

It wasn't hard to become the happy person I had once been. As much as I loved my brother, he wasn't really fun to be around, especially since everything happened. But now that I had other people around to talk to, now that I had friends again, family, life became so much easier to handle.

I didn't feel lost anymore. I knew where I belonged. Here in these caves, with these people. I never realized how much I needed people, before. And now that I had this new home, I wasn't going to let anything take it from me. I'd protect it with my life.


	8. Chapter 8

More time passed and other humans began making there way to the caves. Jeb would find them and bring them back, the same way he did with me and Kyle.

Everyone was nice. They were, like me, too happy they had found this place to care about much else. The caves had everything we could ever need, and after being on our own on the outside, what we needed wasn't much. We would take turns doing different chores, planting and harvesting, cooking, cleaning, whatever was needed. Nobody ever complained about it, not even Kyle.

We did have to go out on raids every few weeks. We had to be very careful not to get caught. We couldn't risk exposing the whole group. Doc, the resident doctor, gave us pills whenever we would go out. If anything happened, we were supposed to take the pill. If we were dead, the aliens couldn't use our bodies to find out where the caves were hidden. We lost a few men that way. It was always terrible when someone didn't come back.

Sometimes, when we would return from a raid, we would bring a couple of the aliens with us. Doc was trying to remove the parasites. It was disgusting, the aliens were nothing more than little silver centipedes. They would crawl up into your brain and take control.

The first time I saw one of Doc's extractions, I threw up. When Doc was finished cutting up the worm, he went to pull it out, and part of the human's brain came with it. I didn't know how he could stand doing it over and over again. The same thing always happened. Again and again. I thought it was pointless, but they said we had to try. And I agreed with them, we did have to try, but I didn't know how Doc could have the stomach for it. Although, eventually, it became a routine thing, I still couldn't watch.

Jeb somehow managed to keep finding more survivors, which was always a good thing. There could never be too many humans, now that we were on the endangered species list. The newest to our group were Jeb's sister, Magnolia, and her daughter, Sharon. Along with them were a man named Jared and a boy, Jamie.

Jamie was Jeb's and Magnolia's nephew. The poor kid had recently lost his sister, Melanie, to the parasites. It was a sad story, to make it so far only to be caught in the end.

Jared was Melanie's boyfriend. He and the others had figured out clues Jeb had given Melanie, and found their way here.

We were all glad to have them, but there was one slight problem. Melanie had known the clues. She had known, so if she were caught, her body would know. The parasite inside of her would know.

Jared explained, through gritted teeth, that Melanie would never let herself be taken. He told us she was dead, but Jeb still put us on watch. If the Seekers came, we needed to know right away, so we would have time to evacuate. But no one ever came, not one Seeker, so life went on.

Jared was good at this lifestyle. He had good instincts. He never lost a single man on a raid. He even saved mine and Kyle's lives a few times. I remember one time in particular when Kyle's stupidity almost got us into real trouble. Jared kept his cool the entire time.

We needed supplies real bad. Jared planned to be gone for three weeks. That way we wouldn't have to go out again for a while. Kyle, a man named Brandt, who was around my age, a man named Aaron, who was a little older than Jared, and myself, along with Jared were going.

We were in the end of our second week when it happened. We had been staking out a house for about a half hour now. Kyle was getting impatient, he wanted to just go in and take what we needed.

"We could've been in and out and on to the next town already, if you would just let me go in," he complained.

"The bugs could be back at any moment, Kyle. You want to get caught in there?" I asked.

"It will take me less than ten minutes to get what we need," he said.

"Oh, shut up, Kyle. You know how this works. This isn't your first raid," I replied. He was pissing me off again. Why couldn't he just sit there and keep his mouth shut?

"I'm going in. I don't care what the rest of you do," he said, getting up and making a mad dash for the back door. The aliens never locked their doors, so Kyle was in the house before anyone had the chance to stop him.

"Someone should really shoot him, ya know," Jared grunted, slowly standing.

"Yeah, I know," I sighed, also getting to my feet. We were about to head in after Kyle, when head lights pierced the black ahead of us. A car pulled into the driveway.

 _Crap_ , I groaned.

We froze, trying not to draw any attention to ourselves. I heard two doors slam and then there were footsteps on stone. The parasites were going inside, where Kyle was...

 _Please, Kyle. Come outside, right now_ , I silently pleaded. Didn't he hear the car? Couldn't he hear the parasites? What was he doing in there? Did he...? No. Not Kyle. Kyle wouldn't just pop his pill and save the rest of us.  _Of course not, he's Kyle, he'll be the one to get us all caught_ , I reassured myself.

He wasn't coming out. I had to go in and get him. I stood and cleared the distance to the house in a few long strides. I was looking through the back window when I heard Jared behind me.

"Do you see anything?" he asked.

"No, the lights are still out. I can't see a thing."

"Shh, listen," he commanded.

I was listening, but I couldn't hear anything. Jared motioned for me to follow him before opening the screen door and entering the house.

I stepped through the door onto hard tile. The kitchen had a marble floor. It made it hard to walk without making noise. But somehow Jared managed. He was ahead of me, as we walked through an arch into the living room.

He froze, placing his hand on my shoulder. I stopped and shifted my gaze around the room. Where was Kyle? Had he gone upstairs?

Suddenly, I heard a noise, a creaking floor board, upstairs. Jared and I glanced up the staircase, and saw Kyle on the top step, grimacing. He slowly opened his eyes and spotted us. He motioned to the right with his head. I guess the parasites had gone to bed already. I saw him take a deep breath, before taking another step down the stairs.

 _Creak_. Again, the floor boards betrayed the creeping man. He squeezed his eyes shut, like he was willing the bugs not to hear the noise.

Jared swung his hand violently, motioning for Kyle to run. A light flicked on upstairs, just as Kyle rounded the bottom of the staircase.

"H-h-hello? Is someone there?" a feeble voice called out. Jared pushed us both forward, through the kitchen.

 _Click_. The sound of metal. A gun.

We burst through the back door, sprinting to the woods behind the house.

"Stop, wait! I just want to talk. I can help you," the Seeker said. We didn't stop until we were back to the Jeep, which was parked about a mile away, on the other side of the woods. Brandt and Aaron, who were waiting there for us, looked shocked to see us running at them. All three of us jumped in the Jeep and Aaron, who was sitting in the driver's seat, slammed on the gas.

"What the hell, Kyle? Really? A Seeker's house? You decide to just run on into a  _Seeker's house_?" I screamed. He had almost gotten us all killed. I wanted to hit him, and if he had been sitting next to me I would have. But he was in the back and I had jumped into the passenger's seat.

Luckily, Jared had jumped in right beside Kyle. He gave him a hard smack to the back of the head.

" _Ow!_ " Kyle squealed.

"You almost got me killed, you idiot. If you had waited another ten seconds, you would have seen the Seeker come home. But  _no_ , you just had to go in," Jared scolded.

"Well, if we had gone in sooner, like I said, it never would have happened."

Jeez, that was so like Kyle. Never taking responsibility for anything. He would never admit to being wrong.

We finished up the raid with no more incidents, fortunately. When we got back to the caves, everything was great, for a while. Then everything changed again. And it took some time for me to realize that this was the first good change that had happened to me since finding the caves.


	9. Chapter 9

A parasite. They wanted a _parasite_  to stay here with us? Were they out if their damned minds? How could they ever think that this was a good idea? Kyle was right. We needed to kill it,  _fast_.

Kyle, Brandt and I found out Jared was keeping it in the storage area of the caves. When we got down there, Jared refused to let us do what needed to be done. Kyle and Brandt held him back, they told me to kill it. I wanted to kill  _it_. It was the human body I was having trouble killing. The body was so... innocent. I felt like killing the hideous worm that was inside was the same as killing the poor girl on the outside.

The girl's body looked as if it might have been pretty, once. But now it was caked in dirt and grime and sweat. It smelled. That only helped my resolve, though, it made it seem like I wasn't killing a civilized human. It was like killing an animal. I wrapped my hands around its throat and went completely numb. I became unfeeling,  _uncaring_  for the human body I was murdering. The human inside was long dead anyway.

We weren't allowed to kill the creature that night or in any of the nights following. Jeb would kick us out if we tried. Or shoot us. It was the one time since meeting him that I felt he was acting completely irrationally.

But, when I actually looked at the parasite for the first time, when I really  _saw_  it, heard it speak, things changed. It was petrified of us. Scared we would hit again. Afraid we'd try to kill it. I began to feel bad for it. Not just for the  _body_  I had tried to kill, but for the  _alien_  living inside of it. The one that knew  _I_  hated it enough to commit murder.

After awhile, I decided I didn't mind that it was going to live here in the caves with us. I didn't like knowing that I had let my hate get the better of me. I didn't like knowing that I had almost killed someone so innocent. She didn't want to harm us, she just wanted to live her life and be left alone. I promised myself I wouldn't let anyone hurt her the way I had.

I made sure I worked in the same area she did, ate at the same time she did. I stayed around her, keeping her safe. She was afraid of me and I felt horrible about that. I wondered why I couldn't see who she was, how different she was from the other parasites, in the beginning. Why had I been so blinded by my own hatred?

Her name was Wanda. Jeb had come up with it. He had her teaching a class every night after dinner. It was interesting. She'd been to so many different planets. Lived so many different lives. Did she like this one better then the others? Did she like living here... with  _us_?

Jared and some of the others had gone on a raid. Kyle, too. I knew that they were expecting Wanda to be...  _dead_  when they got back. I knew that they would cause a scene. Kyle would start a fight. But I had promised myself that no one would hurt her. She was so nice, if they got to know her they would never want to hurt her. They tried, though. Jared got to her, gave her a huge cut on her cheek.

I was so angry when I saw her with that cut on her face. I wanted to strangle Jared. What right did he have to hurt someone like that? She would never lift a finger against him. Did it make him feel good about himself to go around beating up sweet, defenseless women?

I wanted to keep Wanda away from everyone who might try to harm her,  _especially_  Jared and Kyle. I couldn't trust them. While hiding her from them, we started talking. We had talked before, but this time was different. She opened up to me. Told me that the girl who's body she was in, Melanie, was still there. She told me all kinds of things. And I knew I could believe her. She was a terrible liar. I could always hear her stumbling over her words, deciding what to say, whenever she tried. It was sort of cute, really.

When Walter got sick, I felt so bad for her. Everyone was sad, but Wanda was so gentle, she didn't have to deal with death the way we did. Her kind lived forever, they didn't have the same inevitable end humans did.

The morning I heard her screaming, my heart almost stopped. How could I let something happen to her? If she was... I don't think I could handle it.

When I found her in the river room, clinging to a passed out Kyle, I was ecstatic. I pulled Kyle out of the river and into the hallway, glad that he hadn't fallen. That was, until I thought about what he had been doing next to the river with Wanda. He hated her, wanted her dead... He had followed her there. My own brother had tried to kill my...  _my_...

What was I doing? I was falling in love with her. I was falling  _in love_  with her? How could that be? She wasn't... she wasn't  _human_. No,  _Kyle_  wasn't human. He had tried to kill her and she had saved him. She was plenty human. More human then I was, since I had tried to kill her, too.

I realized that I wasn't  _falling_  in love with Wanda. I was already very much in love with her. When Jared began to realize that Wanda wasn't a Seeker out to get us, he started spending more time with her. He didn't seem to like the attention I was giving her. He was jealous, even though he wouldn't admit it.

The first time I kissed Wanda, I thought my heart would explode, even though she didn't really respond well. But that was only because of Melanie, at least I prayed it was only because of Melanie. Melanie didn't like that I was kissing Wanda, because Wanda was inside of Mel's body. That made sense, and I didn't want to put Wanda through the pain of Melanie's anger, so I didn't push it.

When I found out Wanda had shown Doc how to take the Souls out of their host bodies, I was so proud of her. She was amazing. She did so much for us, I knew we could never repay her. I just hoped that maybe the people here would finally see how great she was. Maybe they would finally see that they didn't need to be afraid of her. Most came around, but there were still a few who would never see past their hatred.

Then I found out she was planning to leave. Planning to give Mel her body back. I didn't understand how she could do that. How could she leave when I needed her? When  _we_  needed her?  _Everyone_  needed her. I tried to convince her. I tried not to sound selfish, but I couldn't help it. I didn't really care about everyone else. I only cared about  _her_. She couldn't leave me. I told her I loved her, hoping she would... I don't know what I hoped for, but I couldn't let her leave without knowing how I felt.

And, just like that, everything changed...  _forever_. Wanda told me she loved me, too. This beautiful, perfect woman loved me. She kissed me and I didn't think I could ever let her go. I didn't  _want_  to let her go. So when I woke up in the morning and she was gone, I couldn't breathe. I knew what she had done, where she had disappeared to in the night. She gave Melanie her life back, but she had taken mine away in the process. Wanda was my life, and now she was gone. I knew she could never intentionally hurt me, but she had.

When I lost my family I thought nothing worse could ever happen to me. My parents were gone, my home was gone, but somehow I kept going. I kept surviving. I eventually found a new home, a new family. But I knew that, without Wanda, I could never survive. If she was gone, no matter how hard I tried to keep going, I wouldn't be able to. I couldn't live without her. I would crawl up into a ball and die.

I didn't know it was possible to need someone so much. I didn't know you could physically die of a broken heart. Even though Wanda didn't get her wish, even though Jared had made Doc put her in a cryotank, I still felt like I was dying without her. It felt like I couldn't breathe. It was a good thing Jared and Mel got her a body as quick as they could. If I had had to wait any longer I might have suffocated.

When the first name Wanda said when she woke up in her new body was mine, when I was the first person she looked for... I had never been so happy in my entire life. I had never been in love before. I had loved but not been  _in_  love. There's a difference. I was going to spend the rest of my life with Wanda. She was the girl I was looking for all those years ago, before Earth was taken from us. She was the girl I had always wanted, the girl I didn't think I'd ever find.

It took an alien invasion and losing everyone I had ever known, everyone I had ever loved, to bring me and Wanda together. She was my silver lining. The one good thing that came from all this pain and heartache. She was  _mine_  and would always be hers, for as long as she wanted me.


	10. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this fic and, if you did, I hope you'll check out my other Host fics :)

"Ian," she whispered quietly, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry you had go through any of that. I- _I_..."

I could hear the tears in her voice and I wasn't going to let her do that to herself. I wasn't going to let her blame herself, like I knew she would.

"Wanda, I didn't tell you that story to make you feel bad," I whispered back to her. I tilted her face up so that I could look into her eyes. I loved looking into those eyes. I could really see  _Wanda_  when I looked into her eyes.  _My Wanderer_.

"I know that, but Ian, it's just..." she cried.

I reached up and brushed away a few golden strands of hair that had fallen in her face. "Shh. Don't cry, Wanda."

"I wish you hadn't lost everyone. I wish you could still have your home," she murmured.

"If I hadn't lost those things, I never would have met you," I said, pulling her into my chest. "I'm sorry I made you cry. I shouldn't have told you."

"No, Ian, I'm glad you told me. It must have been so hard for you relive that.  _I_  should be the one comforting  _you_." Her tiny arms held me tight, tried to be reassuring. I chuckled and felt her smile against my shirt.

"I feel better now that you know. I've never told anyone before. I haven't even ever discussed it with Kyle. He always changes the subject," I whispered into her hair.

"Ian?" She asked, lifting her head up to look at me, tears still in her eyes.

"Yes, honey." I placed my hand on her cheek and she leaned into it.

"Why did you tell  _me_?"

"Because I love you. Because your the only person in the  _universe_  that I want to know everything about me. Because you tell us every night about your lives. About before you came to this planet. I wanted you know what my life was like before I met you. I was incomplete, Wanda. You made me whole. It's not a sad story, please don't cry," I could feel the tears swelling up in my eyes. I kissed her gently on the forehead and she sighed.

"I would have loved to have known you then," she smiled. She, no doubt, was changing the subject to cheer me up.

I laughed. "No, I don't think you would have liked me very much. I was very immature."

"Oh, as opposed to how mature you are  _now_?" she smiled and raised her eyebrows speculatively at me.

"What? You don't think I'm mature?" I asked, trying to sound hurt. I couldn't pull it off, though.

I narrowed my eyes and then started tickling her. She giggled and squirmed to get away, but I wasn't giving up that easily.

"Alright, alright," she laughed, and I finally relented. She plopped down on our mattress, resting her head on the pillow, while she caught her breath. "You're  _very_  mature," she said, a sarcastic tone to her voice, but I let it go.

I sprawled out on the mattress beside her. "I know," I said. She began giggling again as I wrapped my arms around her. She turned to look me in the eye.

"I love you. Thank you for telling me your story," she said.

"Thank you for listening. I love you, so much, Wanderer." And with that I pressed my lips against hers.

Her response was more than I could have ever imagined after that first kiss. Without Melanie here, getting in the way, Wanda was able to love me the way she wanted to. She wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me as close as she could. Her lips moved with mine in ways that I didn't think anyone else would ever be able to replicate. When she kissed me, she could make me forget my own name. My body didn't belong to me anymore. It belonged to Wanda.

I had to pull away sooner then I wanted to. I didn't go too far, though. Keeping my forehead pressed against hers, I smiled, rubbing our noses together. She was gasping for air. Her eyes were still shut and I had a feeling she wouldn't be opening them again tonight. She looked like she was half asleep already.

I pulled her into my chest, putting my arm under head, like a pillow. Keeping her eyes closed, she nuzzled her face into my shirt and was asleep within minutes.

I pressed my lips to her forehead and, even though she was sleeping, I could feel her body relax. I smiled as I fell asleep, the woman I loved in my arms. I would never let her go.


End file.
